Experts sceptical of anti-malaria 'wristwatch'

[Celebration]

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8619

An inventor says he has developed a device with the form of a wristwatch that can detect a malaria infection before symptoms of the illness arise.

According to Gervan Lubbe, from South Africa, his device pricks the wearer’s skin every 6 hours and uses an electronic component to check for a "signature vibration" of the malaria parasite. He says that several medical journals plan to publish his papers on this new detection method, but declined to mention any names.

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Lubbe says that his device has been in development for three years and that it can detect in infection levels as low as 50 parasites per 4 microlitres of blood. He claims his company, Gervans Trading, has already received more than 1.5 million orders for the device, which will cost around $280 each. This is much lower than the price of treatment that a patient with severe malaria might require, the inventor adds.

When the device detects the frequency of movement that Lubbe claims is unique to the malaria parasite, it flashes an alarm, prompting wearers to take antimalarial medication.

The experts who were skeptical (no room in four paragraph limit) say they are going to wait to see any peer reviewed medical journal studies and one was worried about the spread of AIDS from people borrowing or stealing this device. Apparently the needles are easily changed, though.